Excerpt from The Checklist Book From a deadly crash, the checklist is born. It''s October 30, 1935. Franklin D. Roosevelt is the current U.S. President. If you''re into astrology, the Sun is in Scorpio. Annie Oakley, a movie about a gun-slinging cowgirl, is one of the most popular films at the box office, along with The Ivory-Handled Gun starring Buck Jones.
Movies about cattle thieves, horses, and sheriffs are really having a moment. On this day--at a field near Dayton, Ohio--Boeing Aircraft is planning a very special presentation for the U.S. Military. It''s the grand unveiling and debut flight of the Model 299, also known as the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The Model 299 is, at this point in history, the most advanced plane that the world had ever seen. It was as if everyone had been using rotary phones, and now, here comes the iPhone. A marvel of technology.
Boeing is hoping to dazzle the U.S. Army Air Corps with this exquisite new plane, thereby securing a lucrative military contract. Things do not go as planned. Tragically, the plane lifts off, climbs for a seconds, then nose-dives into the ground--killing two people. Three others were rescued from the wreckage. A horrific tragedy for the families of those who were lost, not to mention, a huge embarrassment for Boeing. What went wrong? Was it a mechanical malfunction? No.
Inexperienced pilots? No. After a thorough investigation, the sad truth came forth. The fatal crash happened all because the flight crew failed to do one crucial step: release the flight control gust locks. Why didn''t they do this step? They forgot. Simple as that. They had too many steps to remember and they just forgot one. After this catastrophe, Boeing vowed, "Never again." They developed a new system: the Pre-Flight Checklist.
By completing this checklist, every vital step would be completed. Nothing would be skipped due to negligence, distraction, tiredness, forgetfulness, or any other human frailty. Essentially, Boeing''s leaders realized, "The human brain can only hold so much information/tasks/steps at a time. Even the most seasoned pilots are bound to forget things occasionally. By providing a list of things to check off, we can dramatically improve flight safety." It worked. This new system worked so well, in fact, that many organizations followed Boeing''s lead and brought checklists into their operations, too. How do you get to the moon, make tough business decisions, and save millions of lives? Make a checklist.
NASA created a Launch Operations Checklist for the Apollo 11 moon voyage of 1969. This list was incredibly detailed (well over 100 pages long) with every single step that needed to be taken to carry the astronauts to the moon and back. This checklist was so crucial to the mission''s success that it was called "the fourth crew member." Restaurateur Danny Meyer, founder of legendary restaurants like Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Cafe, and the international Shake Shack franchise, created a simple four-point checklist to help himself make smarter business decisions. As his restaurant empire continued to boom and expand, Meyer''s personal checklist helped him to reduce what he called "progress anxiety." Thanks to his handy list, he could evaluate business opportunities using a short, consistent list of criteria, weed out the wrong opportunities, and focus on the right ones. In 2008, the World Health Organization published a Surgical Safety Checklist. This nineteen-point list reduced the number of deaths due to infections and other preventable complications by 38%.
Atul Gawande, a physician, public health researcher, checklist aficionado, and author of The Checklist Manifesto, calls this Surgical Safety Checklist an "absurdly simple" tool. It''s true. Checklists are often "absurdly simple." So simple, in fact, that we sometimes feel like, "This whole process is unnecessary. I don''t need to make a list. I''ll just remember everything by myself." But the "Oh, I''ll just remember it" strategy rarely works out! In a world full of distractions, noise, and chaos, an absurdly simple tool is exactly what our beleaguered brains need. A checklist is like a form of mental medicine--the prescription for a weary, overstuffed mind.
Long before airplanes and moon landings: The early origin of the checkmark symbol. While most historians credit Boeing with inventing the modern checklist--as we know and use it today--the checkmark symbol () actually has much earlier roots. During the Roman Empire, the letter "V" was used as shorthand for the word "Veritas," meaning "Truth." It''s believed that during Roman times, putting a "V" next to something indicated "It''s truly done" or "Yes, it''s the complete truth." Over the centuries--perhaps due to the fact that most people are right-handed and tend to write the letter "V" going from left to right--the tail on the right side of the "V" became elongated, leading to the checkmark symbol as we commonly see it today. Veritas is not just a Roman word, but also a Roman Goddess--the Goddess of Truth. She''s often depicted wearing white and holding a mirror. She''s an elusive goddess, often hiding at the bottom of a sacred well.
Perhaps the message we''re meant to receive is that finding the truth is not always easy, and sometimes requires great effort to uncover. I like the idea that whenever I check something off a list, it''s like a quiet little moment of connection with the Goddess of Truth. Because there is no such thing as a "halfway" or "semi" checkmark. It''s either a full, solid checkmark--or it''s not done yet. There''s no in between. With each checkmark, it''s like saying, "Veritas, see? It''s done. Really and truly done. It''s the truth.
" I feel like this particular Goddess gets a thrill of delight every time an item is checked off.